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How to set up your first email automations with Omnisend (welcome series and abandoned cart)

For a small online store, two automations do most of the early work: a welcome series for new subscribers and a reminder for shoppers who leave items in their cart. This guide shows how to set both up in Omnisend, using the steps and labels in Omnisend's help center, from connecting your store to testing and reading the reports. Prices are from omnisend.com, read on 14 October 2026.

By Fırat Papatya · Published October 16, 2026 · 7 min read

Affiliate disclosure: links to Omnisend in this article are partner links. If you sign up or upgrade through them, Kuponaut may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. Kuponaut has no Omnisend discount code, and Omnisend states that codes listed on third-party coupon sites are not valid. Prices were read on omnisend.com on 14 October 2026 and can change.

Step 1: connect your store

Omnisend lists native integrations for Shopify, BigCommerce, WooCommerce, WordPress, Wix, Shoplazza, Ecwid, PrestaShop, nopCommerce, Big Cartel and SureCart. Custom and headless stores connect through the API instead. Before connecting, Omnisend says your store must be publicly accessible, have at least 3 products listed and have a payment method enabled.

In Omnisend, click Connect your store (under your brand name, or in Dashboard → Goals) and choose your platform. On Shopify you enter your store URL and install the Omnisend app. If your theme is a Shopify 2.0 theme, also go to Online Store → Themes → Customize → Theme settings → App embeds and switch Omnisend on, or forms and tracking will not work. Shopify and BigCommerce also have their own abandoned cart reminders, which Omnisend says you need to turn off yourself so shoppers do not get two.

On WooCommerce you download the Omnisend plugin, upload and activate it under Plugins → Add New → Upload Plugin, then finish the wizard in Omnisend. Omnisend asks for WooCommerce 3.6 or later and a valid SSL certificate, and suggests temporarily disabling caching, firewall or security plugins if the connection fails. The first sync takes 1 to 24 hours for Shopify, BigCommerce and Wix, and up to 72 hours for large WooCommerce stores.

Step 2: add a signup form

Automations need subscribers, and the abandoned cart flow needs to know who the shopper is. Omnisend can only send a cart reminder if it already has the visitor's email, for example from a signup form or a click in an earlier Omnisend email. A popup is the usual starting point.

Go to Forms → Create form, pick Popup and choose a template. Under Behavior you set when it appears (pages visited, time on page, scroll depth or exit intent), who sees it (for example Don't Show to Existing Contacts), which devices, and how often it comes back. Omnisend recommends keeping the display rules simple and leaving Frequency on so visitors are not shown the form on every page. If you offer a first-order discount in the form, the welcome series is where it gets delivered. Click Enable to publish the form.

Step 3: build the welcome series

First verify your sender domain under Store Settings → Email → Sender Domains. Then go to Automations, click Create workflow and choose one of the Welcome presets. The trigger is Subscribed to Marketing, filtered by default to contacts who joined through a signup form for the first time. If you also want people who opt in at checkout or arrive through an import, remove the subscription method filter.

The preset includes email and SMS messages with a welcome discount block already in place. Edit the content, delete the SMS step if you are not collecting phone numbers, and add delay blocks between messages. Omnisend does not prescribe a number of emails or a schedule. A simple pattern for a small store is a first email straight away with the promised discount, a second a day or two later about your best-selling products or what makes the shop different, and a third that reminds people the offer is still open.

Step 4: set up abandoned cart and abandoned checkout

Omnisend separates two situations. Abandoned Cart is triggered by Added products to cart and stops when the shopper places an order or starts checkout. Abandoned Checkout is triggered by Started Checkout and stops when the order is placed. Omnisend recommends running both, because a shopper who moves on to checkout leaves the first workflow and enters the second.

Create each from its preset in Automations. The Trigger Inactivity Time sets how long a shopper has to be inactive before the flow starts, and Omnisend suggests waiting at least 30 minutes before the first message so fewer reminders go to people who were about to pay. By default each contact can enter the workflow once every 24 hours.

The Abandoned Products item shows the items left behind, with images and links. Its Shop Now button opens the product page, so Omnisend suggests adding a separate button that links to the cart itself. It also notes that removed items can still appear, since removals are not tracked. If you want to offer a discount only on larger orders, the Abandoned Checkout Value Split preset sends discounted emails to higher-value carts and plain reminders to the rest.

Step 5: add product recommendations, and SMS if it fits

The Product Recommender item fills an email with up to 12 in-stock products at send time. Best-selling, recently added and most viewed products are available on every plan. Personalised options, such as products a contact recently viewed or products similar to past purchases, are included on Pro and are a paid add-on on Standard. They need enough returning customers to work, otherwise a fallback selection is used. A best-sellers block fits well in the second welcome email.

SMS is worth adding only if you already collect phone numbers with consent. Omnisend says a legal consent block is required when a form asks for a phone number, and that phone numbers from Shopify, BigCommerce and WooCommerce sync after a customer's first order, so first-time cart reminders can only go by email. On Pro, SMS starts at $0.007 a message.

Step 6: test, activate and measure

Use Preview & test to check each email on desktop and mobile, and Preview as one of your contacts to see real cart or order data. Plain test sends do not fill in discount codes, recommendations or abandoned products. For a realistic test, Omnisend suggests a segment containing only your own address, added as an audience filter on the trigger, then subscribing or abandoning a cart in an incognito window. Use a fresh email address for the welcome test, because the first-subscription filter will not fire twice for the same contact.

When it looks right, click Publish Changes and then Activate Workflow. Publishing alone leaves the workflow switched off. Afterwards, Reports → Automation shows revenue, placed orders, open and click rates, and unsubscribe and spam rates for each workflow. Omnisend credits an order to an email if it comes within 7 days of an open or click, and within 24 hours for SMS and push. You can change that window under Store Settings → Sales Attribution, which is worth knowing before you compare figures with another tool.

Consent and unsubscribe basics

Omnisend's anti-spam policy requires express consent before you send marketing messages, forbids pre-ticked opt-in boxes and bought or rented lists, and asks you to reconfirm consent for lists older than 12 months. Its legal consent block is unchecked by default and includes GDPR and TCPA templates, but you still need to link your privacy policy and check which rules apply to your customers.

Omnisend adds an unsubscribe link to marketing emails automatically and says hiding it can get an account suspended. Leave it visible and treat unsubscribe and spam rates in the reports as an early warning that you are sending too often. This is general information, not legal advice.

Which plan, and Omnisend or Klaviyo?

The Free plan costs $0 and covers 500 emails a month to 250 contacts, with the automations, forms and reports described here, so you can build and test everything before paying. For a list of 251 to 500 contacts, Standard is $16 a month with 6,000 emails, and Pro is $59 a month with unlimited emails and SMS from $0.007. Prices rise with list size. The pricing page also offers 30% off the first three months when you pay upfront on a first upgrade. Our Omnisend pricing page has the details. Kuponaut has a partner link but no code, and Omnisend says coupon-site codes are not valid, so use the offers on omnisend.com.

Klaviyo is the obvious alternative. Both have free plans for 250 contacts. At 500 contacts Klaviyo's paid email plans start at $20 a month against $16 for Omnisend Standard. Klaviyo is generally stronger on analytics, while Omnisend includes 24/7 support and web push on every plan. Our Omnisend vs Klaviyo comparison covers the differences in more detail.

Related code pages

Omnisend discount code — Partner link, no code needed — see current pricing
Shopify discount code — 3 days free, then $1/month for 3 months (official offer) — via our link, no code needed
Omnisend: omnisend pricing
Shopify: shopify pricing
Omnisend vs Klaviyo (2026): Email & SMS Pricing for Small Stores Compared
Shopify vs Wix (2026): Store Plans, Fees, Trials and Refunds Compared
How to start a Shopify store for $1 a month: the trial, the plans and the fees that actually matter